4440 HFWD and 158 loader

Posted by MIsteve on April 26, 2016 at 13:44:06 from (35.46.23.170):

Hi, I just joined but I've been reading on here for years. Love the forum!

We recently purchased a 4440 with HFWD (FWD blows oil out of one motor) for our hay operation, and I have a couple questions that I hope some of you might be able to answer. We don't need front-assist and if we did, I don't think this would be the tractor. I've convinced myself that the heavier front axle will be better for a loader and bigger tires will be better for flotation. Price was right and came from a local farm. We generally run between 80-150 acres of alfalfa on sand, and currently use our 4020 or IH 544 to feed rounds through the winter (heated cab sounds nice). 4440 will be running the discbine and baler, as well as feeding rounds through the winter and assorted small loader work.

Can we just cap off all hydraulic ports on the front wheels and free-wheel the front end indefinitely? I've never worked on a HFWD, and have been too busy and am a little nervous about taking this apart just yet. I would think that if we were going to free-wheel it, we would want to remove the planetary gears, but I'm not sure if it's necessary. Should I be concerned about bearing lubrication if we go this route, or would I be making a decent oil bath if everything were capped with no leaks? Doesn't look like wheel bearing has a grease zerk on hfwd?

I would like to avoid a full axle replacement for cost reasons, plus the hfwd axle and knee look stronger than 2wd. Online parts book shows different part numbers for inner & outer axle and steering, so would think that whole axle replacement would be in the $2k range with salvage parts. Is there a 2wd spindle that would fit outer axle instead?

We're also looking to add a loader to this, and are thinking about a deere 158. I swear that I saw somewhere that the specs call for 2wd tractors only. I'm thinking that this is for the front tire clearance, but is there something else I'm not seeing? The 148 on our 4020 looks like it would clear the bigger front tires without issue. I really like the visibility of our 148 compared to other deere loaders that I've used, and think a 158 would work great for hay.

Thanks
Steve

Replies:

• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader Deere54 08:58:14 04/28/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader Tx Jim 06:06:37 04/27/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader BarnyardEngineering 06:00:31 04/27/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader Nick m 05:01:48 04/27/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader Tx Jim 03:43:18 04/27/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader Tx Jim 03:29:05 04/27/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader JD Seller 21:20:50 04/26/16 (0)
• Re: 4440 HFWD and 158 loader jimg.allentown 16:31:40 04/26/16 (0)

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